Elsa Pataky Biography

Elsa Lafuente Medianu (born 18 July 1976), known professionally as Elsa Pataky, is a Spanish model, actress, and film producer. Pataky is best known for her role as Elena Neves in The Fast and the Furious franchise. She has appeared in the films Snakes on a Plane (2006), Giallo (2009) and Give 'Em Hell, Malone (2009). She also starred in the Spanish film Di Di Hollywood in 2010.

Early life

Elsa Pataky was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Jos Francisco Lafuente, a Spanish biochemist, and Cristina Pataky Medianu, a publicist of Romanian and Hungarian ancestry. Pataky attended the CEU San Pablo University, studying journalism and taking acting classes.

Career

Pataky was a member of the Madrid theatre company Teatro Cmara de ngel Gutirrez. Eventually, she left school when she was cast in the television series Al salir de clase. Some of her subsequent films were co-productions with the UK and France, which introduced her to working in English and French. She was in the cast of the television series Queen of Swords (2000) as Seora Vera Hidalgo, trophy wife of Gaspar Hidalgo and mistress of Captain Grisham, credited in the opening titles but appearing in only 14 of the 22 episodes. She also had a recurring role in the television series Los Serrano, playing teacher Raquel, who fell in love with her student Marcos (Fran Perea).

Pataky has appeared in over 10 Spanish films and co-starred in the French film Iznogoud (2004). She was also on the cover of August 2006 issue of Maxim. She was cast in 2009 in the Mexican series Mujeres Asesinas as Paula Moncada in the episode "Ana y Paula, Ultrajadas". She also starred in the action noir film Give 'Em Hell, Malone and Dario Argento's Giallo.

Pataky became the female face for the first collection of Time Force's jewelry line Ultimate Jewel, opposite football star Cristiano Ronaldo. She played Officer Elena Neves in the movie Fast Five, with Dwayne Johnson as her partner, Luke Hobbs. MTV Networks' NextMovie.com named her one of the Breakout Stars to Watch for in 2011. Pataky was a stand in for Natalie Portman in the post end credit scene in Thor: The Dark World.

In 2013 and 2015, she reprised her role as Elena Neves in Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7, the sixth and seventh installment of The Fast and the Furious film series.

Personal life

Pataky began dating American actor Adrien Brody in 2006. For Pataky's 31st birthday in July 2007, Brody purchased her a 19th-century estate in New York. Pataky and Brody were featured at their New York home in a 35-page spread for HELLO! magazine in October 2008. The pair broke up in 2009.

She then began dating Australian actor Chris Hemsworth in early 2010, after meeting through their mutual representatives. Pataky and Hemsworth married over the Christmas holidays in 2010. They have three children: daughter India Rose (born May 11, 2012) and twin sons, Tristan and Sasha (born March 18, 2014).

In September 2012, Pataky won 310,000 in Spain's supreme court against publishing group Ediciones Zeta. In March 2007, Interviu magazine, owned by the Zeta, published topless photos of Pataky that had been taken with a long lens while Pataky was changing clothes during a photoshoot for Elle magazine. The Zeta group said it would appeal the decision.

In addition to Spanish, she is fluent in English, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, and French.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Solo en la buhardilla	Chica revista	Short
2000	The Art of Dying	Candela
2000	Tatawo	Blanqui
2000	Less Is More	Diana
2001	Don't Tempt Me	Waitress in Hell
2001	Twelfth Night	Marta Cuspineda
2002	Peor imposible qu puede fallar?	Ftima
2003	Beyond Re-Animator	Laura Olney
2003	El furgn	Nina
2003	Atraco a las 3... y media	Katya
2004	Romasanta: The Werewolf Hunt	Barbara
2004	Tiovivo c. 1950	Balbina
2005	Iznogoud	Prehti-Ouhman
2005	Arquitectura efmera deconstruida	Vdeo 'Retorciendo palabras'	Video
2005	Ninette	Alajandra 'Ninette'
2006	Snakes on a Plane	Maria
2007	Manual of Love 2	Cecilia
2008	Mncora	Ximena Saavedra
2008	Skate or Die	Dany
2008	Santos	Laura Luna
2009	Giallo	Celine
2009	Give 'Em Hell, Malone	Evelyn
2010	Mr. Nice	Ilza Kadegis
2010	Di Di Hollywood	Di Di
2011	La importancia de llamarse Enesto		Short
2011	Fast Five	Elena Neves
2011	Where the Road Meets the Sun	Michelle
2011	Snowflake, the White Gorilla	Bruja del Norte	aka Copito de nieve
2013	All Things to All Men	Sophia Peters
2013	Fast & Furious 6	Elena Neves
2013	The Wine of Summer	Veronica	Also producer
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Jane Foster	Uncredited; Stand-in for Natalie Portman
2015	Furious 7	Elena Neves
2017	The Fate of the Furious	Elena Neves

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Al salir de clase	Raquel Alonso	192 Episodes
1998	Tio Willy		1 Episode
1998	La vida en el aire		13 Episodes
2000	Hospital Central	Maribel	2 Episodes
2000	Queen of Swords	Vera Hidalgo	14 Episodes
2002	Clara		TV movie
2002	Paraso	Luisa	1 Episode: "El cebo"
2003	7 vidas	Cristina	1 Episode: "La jaula de las locas"
2003	Los Serrano	Raquel Albaladejo	11 Episodes
2005	Films to Keep You Awake: The Christmas Tale	Ekran	TV movie
2009	Mujeres asesinas	Paula Moncada	1 Episode: "Ana y Paula, ultrajadas"